Food for thought: How to make food safer across state lines

About 24 multistate foodborne outbreaks involving 2-37 states are reported every year, accounting for only 3% of all such outbreaks during the 2010-2014 period and yet responsible for 56% of all foodborne-related deaths – according to the November CDC Vital Signs Monthly Report. Multistate outbreaks occur when already-contaminated food reaches kitchens in homes and restaurants in several states, causing people in very different locations to become sick with the same germ. Investigating these outbreaks is like tracking down the killer in Fallen, but the experienced gained by investigators plus technology innovations have led to the discovery of problems at farms – though not in the Orwellian sense – as well as issues with processing and distribution. Where problems are detected, solutions can be offered to make food safer and save lives.

What can be done – and by whom – to prevent multistate foodborne outbreaks

Federal government

· Implement improved food safety legislation and regulations.

· Work with state and local health departments to use improved to find, investigate and quickly stop multistate foodborne outbreaks.

· Help said departments improve inspections and guidelines.

State and local health agencies

· Promote quick submission of germs from sick people from clinical labs to public health labs.

· Test these germs quickly to determine if others are sick from the same germ.

· Use standard questions to interview sick people about what they ate.

· Test suspect foods.

· Take part in nationwide networks to share improved investigational methods.

· Report suspected outbreaks a.s.a.p. to the local or state health department.

· Educate patients and caregivers of people in high-risk groups - including pregnant women, adults over 65 years, children under 5, and people with weakened immune systems – on their increased risk for food poisoning.

Food industry

· Keep records to track foods from source to destination.

· Use store loyalty card and distribution records to help investigators identify what made people sick.